I think this was quite well done.

It was interesting to see how Rylant works with existing historical details to try and fill in the "lost years" of Laura's life in the style of the Little House books. While the story worked well for the most part, there were chapters that just felt like Rylant wanted to hit all the details so they just felt dropped in there. Also I was unimpressed with how Ma's pregnancy's were represented, like the children just had no idea that Ma was pregnant and then poof they came home and there was a baby. Overall: A little too on the nose and not enough Little House charm.

Nicely crafted. I read it because it fills in the gaps in Wilder's stories, and I just visited Burr Oak, Iowa, where part of this story is based.

This book fills in a period of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s story not covered by her iconic Little House books. Whether it was too sad a period for Laura to tell it, or whether she felt it didn’t have enough interest to make it a worthy companion to the other nine books, Cynthia Rylant has made it into a compelling story.
A devoted reader of Laura’s books may question the legitimacy of someone else trying to add to the series. Laura only wrote a few pages about this two-year period so I kept asking, did this really happen. Although it is certain that in her stories Laura must have invented some of the dialog, we can also imagine that the subject of many conversations is taken from her memories.
However, despite these persnickety questions, I enjoyed the book. Ms. Rylant has caught Laura’s turn of phrase well and I could imagine that I was reading something that she had written. I recommend this book for anyone who finished the last Laura book and wished there was another one.

Surprisingly ok!

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! I felt that it was definitely different from the original series, but not in any unbridgeable way. ;D The writing seemed a bit weaker to me than the original series, or at least for younger children, but the style was the same as L. I. W.'s as a whole. It seemed a bit random at times, fitting all these story pieces together in one book and having not much real reason why they all have to be in the same book, but that could very well have just been the feeling I got. The characters were pretty true to themselves, though Ma seemed to talk a bit more and more openly than usual, and Pa seemed to laugh a little less, but very similar! :) As I said though, I liked this overall, and fans of the original series should definitely check this out to hear more of Laura and her family.
Parents may want to know: *spoiler*
This book includes
-death in infancy
-light themes of childish revenge
-sickness, once resulting in death (see above)
-a slightly "frightening" situation where Laura tries to cross a stormy river, in case you've got little kids. ;)

I mostly read this to see what information I was missing... I sped through it because it felt wrong.

Laura’s spunk was not present. Ma’s dialogue was off. She never called the children by anything but their names in Laura’s books, so hearing her call them “dear” was weird. Laura did not show any reaction to Ma showing intense emotion, which she never did in Laura’s books. Pa’s dialogue was alright. The narration tried very hard on the nature monologues, and sometimes approached Laura’s prose, but it felt repetitive and lacking. The narration also did not focus on Laura, but distantly on all of them, which was another major turn off. I want to say the author reread Laura’s books before writing this, as she referenced them multiple times, but it didn’t seem Laura learned anything in this book and was unable to reflect upon anything else that had happened to her. Mostly... empty.

Bedtime read-aloud with my 8yos as we make our way through the Little House series. I appreciated it and would use it again if we were to read the series again.

Pros:
-I appreciated that we got to read about Freddie's birth and death (that was my main reason for getting it. While some readers feel Laura Ingalls Wilder is disrespected by having a book written about sad parts of her life she chose not to share, to me it feels that we are honouring the memory of Freddie Ingalls to read about his short but cherished life.)
-Appreciated reading about the birth of baby Grace
-Appreciated reading about the town of Burr Oak and this time in the Ingalls' lives. Even though it had sad parts, it was still full of beauty.
-writing was excellent, felt just like a Little House book
-lovely illustrations

Cons:
-a good, fine book but forgettable (we couldn't name our favourite part after reading)
-would have liked a more over-arching plot. The Little House books ARE written as collections of anecdotes, but it lands differently for the reader when you imagine they are real things that happened to the family (or nearly--I know LIW was a novelist too and she fictionalized lots of it to create a certain picture). When I know that most of the anecdotes are made up, I want more from the writing--the bar is higher. E.g. Laura made a friend named Alice and they played with kittens in a barn, but it never comes up again and she leaves Alice behind when she moves west. What was the point of that chapter? Many chapters like this.

I would happily buy it if I saw it at a thrift store, but I don't really want to spend real money on it. I like the idea of "completing" my Little House series with this book, but don't quite love it enough to go out of my way for it.

It was another day to read another Rylant Book and not just because she is one of my favorite authors, but also because this one is about Laura Ingalls Wilder and a time period in her family life that was quite upsetting and sad for them all. It was one she made notes about, but never included in her novels about her Little House years.

This story contains some pretty painful things that happened to their family during this time period which makes it understandable as to why they weren't included in her novels.

If you are a fan of the Little House books, this one is a must read.

Having never read this as part of the series before this really adds context as to where Grace comes in and what happened before. It was sad, sweet and full of changes for the family. Seeing them living in town for the year it really shows the changes that occurs and Laura's change to her love of words in school. It was a sweet friendship she has with the others but shows the inequality of girls having to behave even when boys are rude, attack them and make their lives harder. Really adds a lot of context to the next part of the series.

Darling companion book to the Little House series. Recommending to my girls for sure.

Unofficially book 5 of LHOTP, notice that this book was not written by Laura Ingalls Wilder herself. Why she chose to ignore these years in her autobiographical children’s series is unclear (she briefly mentions them in her autobiography Prairie Girl), but Cynthia Rylant does a fabulous job in illuminating the interregnum between On the Banks of Plum Creek and By the Shores of Silver Lake.

Of course it was during this time that Laura’s little brother, Freddie, died…and died of “diarrhea” of all things (something curable today).

This was also the time Pa “gave up” on his Plum Creek settlement (due to the grasshopper devastation 3 years in a row) and suddenly decided to help run a hotel. (Poor Ma!)

Life was never easy for this pioneer family, but Laura’s unusual silence about this time in her family’s history surely speaks to the depth of their trauma.